OTTAWA, Jan. 25, 2001 (LSN.ca) – Roy Beyer, President of the Canada Family Action Coalition, has defended Official Opposition leader Stockwell Day from the media onslaught over his recent court battle regarding a defamation suit. In a CFAC release Beyer notes that “if you are a pro-family Canadian, I would hope you recognise that much of the media attack against Stockwell Day is nothing less than an attack against all people of faith and moral conscience.” The following summary of arguments by Beyer and an article by Danielle Smith of the Calgary Herald help to put the debate in focus, providing critical details that have been left out of most news stories.
The controversy involves a situation in Red Deer, Alberta, where a school board trustee (also a criminal lawyer) decided to serve as defence attorney for a previously convicted pedophile charged with child pornography possession. In addition to providing the usual defence for the accused the trustee/lawyer also argued in court that the laws against child pornography possession were unconstitutional and on those grounds the charges against his client should be dropped.
After the case was heard and after the accused was convicted, Day, as Member of the Legislative Assembly for Red Deer North, wrote a letter to the editor of a local newspaper questioning the appropriateness of the trustee’s decision to take on the case and to argue against the law forbidding possession of child pornography. As a result, the trustee/lawyer decided to sue Day and the newspaper, asking $600,000 in damages.
Because Mr. Day was being sued in his capacity as an elected public official, he was covered by a defence fund/insurance policy that covers government employees. Day sought to avoid resorting to the policy and wanted to raise his own legal funds for the suit; however the Alberta Ethics Commissioner ruled he could not raise his own funds and must be covered.
Day felt he was forced to abandon the case after Justice Keith Ritter denied him a trial by jury in the case. Legal experts say this was the first time in Canadian history that a trial by jury was denied in a defamation case. The cost of the legal fees was already so high that to go further with the case was deemed imprudent. The out-of-court settlement cost some $60,000 in damages and more than $720,000 in legal fees.
Since the settlement, the media has pounced on Day for daring to question a lawyer’s right to defend his clients. They neglected, however, to mention that Day was reacting to a politician/lawyer who had argued before a court that the law against child pornography possession is unconstitutional, while sitting on a school board and working to uphold that same law.
Beyer’s and Smith’s articles will appear soon at: https://www.familyaction.org